


it's our choice to accept fate (and we did it)

by lillyby



Category: One Piece
Genre: ASL Brothers, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Families of Choice, Family, Gen, Platonic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, ig.. idk how to tag but they are brother by choice so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:41:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28484784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lillyby/pseuds/lillyby
Summary: People are always talking about finding their other half and it takes a while for Ace to understand that soulmates aren't just about romantic nature of relationships. Well, this would explain his birthmark but nothing about the way he meets them makes any sense.(or, asl + modern!au + platonic soulmates au in which each one of them has three triangle tattooed but just one is filled).
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace & Sabo, Portgas D. Ace & Sabo
Comments: 4
Kudos: 92





	it's our choice to accept fate (and we did it)

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this few months ago but finally decided to post and it's my first fic here so dhfksjfh just heads up!! Anyway happy birthday ace best boy!! All this is written by his pov btw!! Hope you like it <3

Ace isn't someone easy to deal with, to say at least. He'd got a lot on his back and, for some reason, he isn't really ashamed of everything he went through — after all, his parents dying at such young age just turned him into the more mature and strong minded version he could ever be. However, there are times when this personality just got the worst out of him and that's the solely reason why he always tried to avoid the whole soulmate talk and the mark inside the top of his forearm.

It's not like he doesn't want one — hell, few encounters are actually funny, Ace would just laugh if something like that ever happened to him — but he just doesn't feel like he deserves it. If there was one thing that the lack of parenthood left was this barrier that kept him from being free whenever he had to start a new relationships.

After his parents passed away, Ace started living by himself in a simple and smaller house, close to a house from a woman who was a family friend — this was the first relationship he had to deal by himself. The second one was few months later, a barmaid who basically taught him everything he knew about how to deal with new people. Still, he had an strong will in his genes which was strengthened by this lack of a parental figure, which never let him grow easily comfortable around strangers.

By the time he grew up, Ace became more aware of people around him and, even if he still had that hot headed personality, he started feeling more welcome.

It was just by the age of seventeen that he's confident enough to move out to a bigger city, looking for more opportunities — or how he liked to say as a kid: “new adventures” which is silly, but he still believes that's the case. It's on that city he met this group of people that became just like a family to him, the strongest relationship he had so far.

Besides all that change, Ace still buried himself with his own past. He was pretty sure that, at this point, no one could convince him that that mark on his arm meant something and that he had someone waiting for him out there. He had real friends now, and nothing else matters.

No one talks about it again until the day Marco introduced his soulmate for the crew — who seemed just as friendly as his best friend, if Ace had to voice his own opinion, so he had no problem in accepting them.

Later that night, Marco walked over to his lonely figure sitting in one of the bar's table and offered him a drink. The way he looked up from his arms and half smiled made the blond scoff, fixing his glasses before handing him the glass.

“You look terrible, you need to stop sleeping everywhere you lean on.” The older one comments, not letting the worried tone out when he finally asked. “What time did you go to sleep yesterday?”

“Around four in the morning.” Ace rubbed his face while taking a sip of his drink.

Marco eyes widened when he said that. He knew damn well that his friend's neighbors are the worst and that's the main complaint he had the past few months — although, he also knew this isn't the only thing on his mind. Fortunately, or not, Marco learned to not talk too much about the second matter and tried to focus on the first and more solvable one.

After all, your past doesn't define you. That's what he said when he first met Ace and he still stand by this statement. 

Marco let his inner doctor tone show when he sighs, sitting down in front of his best friend before talking again, “you're going to kill yourself if you keep sleeping like that and waking up two hours later to go to work,” and then, softer, “you know you're always welcome if you want to stay at my house, right?”

Ace sighs. He has an annoying expression but a relieved tone on his voice. “You said that already, Marco. I'm fine.” He let his lips curve up in a involuntary smile.

“I'm just reinforcing it.” He takes another sip of his drink when he looks into Ace's eyes. “Even if it's for a while, I don't mind. You can sleep on the couch and-”

“Hey, man!” Ace is chuckling now when he raised his hand, making his best friend stop talking. “It's fine, really. I would tell you if it wasn't — besides, your house won't be just yours for too long.” He finally mentions tonight's meeting, winking at him.

He's sure he noticed a pink dust on Marco's cheek — who insisted in blaming the alcohol. Ace doesn't buy it but again, he's too tired to talk back right now. He expects the conversation to dry out but it doesn't, and suddenly, he's asked about the same thing he keept avoiding the whole day.

“I've seen it before but I never paid enough attention to it. Would you mind showing me your mark?” Marco's looks at his friend behind his glasses, kinda of a know-it-all-stare at him which makes Ace roll his eyes.

However, he doesn't ignore his question. The freckled man stretched out his arm, pulling his shirt sleeve up over his elbow so his friend had a better view. Marco stare at it again while Ace continued looking around the bar, not sparing a glance on his friend way now — like he's not really interested in anything related to that.

He just isn't mad about this whole soulmate talk because it's completely indifferent for him.

On the other hand, Marco is looking at it way more intensely than his best friend expected. He'd been around Ace for long enough to see the mark hundred times since it was in such perceptible place, but just now he really noticed the pattern.

“You were never curious to why you have three symbols?” Ace finally looks at Marco when he asks that, responding only by shaking his head. “The fact that you have three different ones and just the first is filled probably means there are other two people with the same mark.”

Ace almost doesn't let him finish. “Marco, it can be just a fucking scar for all I care.” He laughs, not even looking when he started pulling his sleeve down and folding it back up to his forearm. “And sorry, I'm not interested in dating two people. It requires too much patience and I don't have it enough to deal with one.”

Marco's laughing again, it's kinda weird the fact that his reasoning actually makes sense for him. Still, he doesn't fail to point out. “You know soulmates aren't always lovers, right?”

And then, Ace is quiet. His face is serious and then confused when he looks at the blond guy in front of him — no one has ever said that to him. Which is probably his fault for never talking about that matter, but now he's more confused than ever and Marco can't contain his laugh at his friend's face.

“What? You're telling me you didn't know?” Marco scoffed, refilling his glass and chuckling when Ace held his glass up too. “How dumb are you, exactly?”

“Listen I don't care about that shit, why would I know?” After saying that; Ace chugged the drink that was just refiled.

Marco can see his friend looked a bit more agitated now — maybe it's the alcohol, but he can't tell. Without trying to push the teasing too much, he adjusts his glasses trying to look more serious when while thinking in how to start such sensitive topic with his best friend.

“I guess it doesn't mean you won't have a romantic partner, they just won't be your soulmate. That type is a bit different, they're called platonic soulmates…” He pauses — since his best friend is looking at him so intensely, he has to stop and think about it before continuing. “I haven't seen it that often, but it does happen — especially when the marks complete each other.” There's another pause for him to find the right words to explain the relationship. “I guess it's the same thing as what you know but, instead of feeling any sexual attraction and stuff like that, you have someone like a friend that was made for you. You can think of it like a family member, but without the obligations you have as a family.”

He doesn't answer for a second and then; “Since when are you this soft, Marco?” Ace is smirking at him — who answered by rolling his eyes but not saying anything else since the freckled man started to look at his empty glass, thinking. “It's just a strokes of two triangles. Maybe it's just mom and dad.” He trailed off, his voice quiet now as if he doesn't want it to be true.

“Nah,” Ace looks surprised when his friend quickly denied. “It has been what? More than 10 years, right? It would've faded by now.” He didn't said the exact words, but it was understandable.

Ace is frozen again, thinking about it. For a second, he let out a chuckle before talking. “Well… at least that sounds less complicated than what I expected.” He looks up at Marco and smiled, shrugged, “I hope you're right.” He says without really believing in it.

Ace wouldn't accept someone being fated — or forced, on his dictionary — to love him so deeply because he never felt worth it. It seemed even more difficult to understand when there are two other people destined for this even though he would never be able to repay them.

Again, he only hoped that was just an weird birth mark and nothing related to the soulmate.

* * *

He's good at ignoring it for a whole year again, being used to not talk about that whole matter sure helped. However, at the age of nineteen and where he never expected, it happens.

The neighbors started screaming at each other again. Ace realized it's the perfect timing for him to get away from his apartment and finally accept it as a sign for him to finally do his laundry. He quickly collected all the clothes on the floor — throwing it into a hamper he found lying around — and got out of there as fast as he could. Thankfully, it's almost 11PM when he does it — which means no one is going to bother him there.

When he opens the door to the community laundry room, there's a blond guy sitting on top of one of the washing machines, with his back facing the door, while playing with his phone and bumping his heads. Ace noticed the headphones after a while and decides to be quiet — the guy seemed chill, he doesn't want to bother whatever he's doing.

When he finally open one of the washing machines, suddenly he hears a whistle — looking up and noticing the same guy smiling at him now.

“This one isn't working.” He says, pointing to the next one. “Neither this one. It's just going to eat your coins.” He chuckle, putting his headphones back.

Ace thank him — who responds by giving him thumbs up — and walk around, closer to the guy, to finally put his clothes inside the machine, pulling a stool closer to sit down. While waiting, he pretends to be busy with his phone without looking around too much, in hopes to not feel the awkward atmosphere it may happen if he does.

He isn't quiet for too long because, apparently, Ace was the only one that had that intention. Feeling someone's eyes over him, he looks up again to the blond man, waving and trying to call his attention. He's smiling apologetic now but Ace doesn't try to much to to mirror his reaction — still, he doesn't mind answering with his apartment number when the man asks him.

“I figured as much,” The stranger slides over the top of two washing machines so he's now in front of him — Ace thinks about the reason why the machines aren't working is his fault, but doesn't mention it. “Actually, I moved to the apartment in front of yours few weeks ago.” He looks at the clock on the wall and chuckle. “It's time, right? The noise is annoying for me, but I can't imagine how bad it's for you.”

Ace's surprised expression quickly fades into a relieved smile — and he's not even sure why. Again, the man looks chill, and for this reason he really doesn't mind the small talk he started.

“Oh, you have no idea.” Ace chuckles, leaning forward. “When I get home from work I don't even change. I go straight to bed because there's no way I can sleep when they start their show.” He rolls his eyes, smiling as he felt more comfortable with this conversation — even though they haven't exchanged that many sentences. “It's a fucking nightmare.”

“Yeah! I don't have much of a choice, but the building isn't that bad for such cheap price. The neighbors, though? Yikes. No offense.” He shakes his hand in front of his face, smiling apologetically.

“None taken.” Ace shrugged.

Something pops into his mind; a feeling that he should try to keep the conversation happening. Ace tries to think about what to say next but his concern is replaced by a grateful feeling when when the guy talks again. Ace was about to ask why he didn't have other choices, which probably isn't the best thing to ask to a stranger and would ruin his intention to not make the atmosphere awkward. 

“My name is Sabo, by the way.”

Ace furrowed his eyebrows when the former stranger strengthened his hand for him to hold. The blond guy in front of him looked really close to his age, there was no reason for him to act so formally. He accepted and hold his hand out back to him either way. “Ace.”

“Nice to met you, Ace! Good to know you actually slept with that outfit and not got into a fight.”

The freckled man finally realized he was talking about his shirt — which was a mess now and also was the one he planned wearing tomorrow again. He mutters a curse when he quickly let go of his hand, rushing to open the washing machine, taking off his shirt and throwing it inside quickly.

Sabo is watching his movements but completely ignored what happened — considering it funny instead of weird. He's about to continue saying whatever he was going to when the man finally stands up, giving him a full vision of his arm. The blond starts laughing bit harder now.

“Now, that's a turn off.”

Ace noticed his eyes on him and raised his eyebrows. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, sorry! I didn't meant it to sound like that!” He pointed to him and, for the first time that night, he jumped out of the washing machine and started walking towards Ace. “I expected something movie like, but I guess this is fine.” He concluded pulling his long sleeves up too and stretching his arms in Ace's direction.

He's still looking at Sabo's face, waiting for him to explain what he just said when the blond points to his right arm using his head. And then, he's frozen, again.

The mark is exactly the same one Ace has, except the one triangle that's filled it's on the middle. His mind takes a while to process — Sabo noticed that when the freckled man in front of him had to look at his own arm again to make sure of it.

To be honest, it kinda of makes sense. How Sabo felt someone else presence without seeing anyone entering the room. How Ace actually wanted to continue the conversation, despite hating making the effort to talk to people he will never see again. How Sabo had the gut feeling of doing his own laundry at 11PM.

For some reason, Ace is a bit more relieved then he expected he would be. He's even laughing — both of them are, about how ridiculous this whole scene is. For someone that never expected the encounter to happen, he's quite pleased with this scenario. 

There's a unspoken feeling right there that none of them can quite understand or voice it out. They just feel like they're more filled, not entirely, though — if that even makes sense. Still, Ace can tell it's different from what he feels with Marco and the others, it's an entirely new feeling. Sabo is even more confident of the meaning of all this now.

Something pops into Ace's head again, and he feels like he needs to make sure of something first. “You've heard about platonic soulmates, right?” and he can't believe he's the one initiating the conversation now.

The fact that the other guy laughs makes him relieved. “Everybody has,” and yeah, Ace feels a little more stupid now, but he doesn't care. “I guess we have to get to know each other now.” The blond guy, Sabo, is smiling more widely now, Ace can tell.

“Yeah… before that.” Ace sighs and pointed to the last triangle. “Have you ever…?”

“Nah.” Sabo shakes his head. When he sits on top of the washing machine now, Ace mimics his actions and sit down by his side. “Guess we got to met first, we are lucky. I hope they are okay out there…” Ace hears the worried tone but then, Sabo is giggling again. “Damn it, I knew I've made the right choice.”

“I know they are.” He answered, talking about the last piece of them but not missing his last statement. “Hope it's okay to ask: which choice?”

Sabo is a little too excited with the idea. He wants to say it's okay to ask because he's his soulmate but, at this point, Ace probably knows that already — Sabo hope he does. For this reason, he isn't afraid to open up a bit more. “Yeah. Not sure where I should start. The whole thing is tough.”

“I bet it's not worst than mine.” Ace shrugged, smiling slightly.

“Really? Then I should start on the day I run away from home…” Sabo says, thinking out loud. He said it straightforwardly because he was sure that the man in front of him had just as much as weight on his back as he did.

“Well looks like I was wrong.” Ace chuckles, shaking his head when Sabo looked at him, confused. “Forget it. You can go first.”

It's kinda of funny; meeting someone new like this, being ready to open up right away without feeling any remorse or uncertainty. Knowing they will knowledge your past and not feel pitty or weirded about it.

Maybe funny isn't the right word, though — Nice? Yeah. Nice seemed like the right word.

* * *

In two years, they're moving together in a whole new building. It's not as cheap as the previous one but the new neighbors sure seemed like angels if they started to compare them. Ace was working full time now, so it was worth it.

Unfortunately, Ace has to keep reminding Sabo that “The housing rules regulations actually works on this one and that he can't do whatever he wants and whenever he wants.” — Meanwhile, Sabo always replies with “So please, don't burn down the building.” and then they go back to teasing and throwing sassy remarks at each other, back and forth.

Their lives changed completely since the day they met and sometimes, Ace still asks himself if all this isn't happening too fast — if he shouldn't just have waited until all three are together for him to truly believe this whole soulmate thing and trust them. The thought isn't that frequent anymore, but it happens.

However, this also changed because, when it does happens, seems like Sabo can tell. They both sleep in different rooms but, on those nights, Sabo usually knocks on his door and asks if he's having problems to sleep — always offering for them to go out and walk a little, maybe grab something to eat, even though both of them have to wake up early on the next day — unfortunately, Sabo's class starts around eight in the morning.

Ace never expected for something like this to happen, and he doesn't have to voice it out for Sabo to know that it feels weird for him. Still, he continues trying — harder than before — to accept that it's okay to have all of this, despite everything he went through. Maybe, the fact Sabo went through something similar helps, but they don't talk about it that much anymore — it's not like they have to.

And all this time, living together and being close to each other just made Ace realized few things about Sabo.

The first thing he noticed is that Sabo liked when he called him his brother. On that day, Ace was tired but he had to call technical assistance to solve their problem on the shower because Sabo had tried before and they just ignored his request. He doesn't even think when he mentioned that specific noun but when he brought up later, he can tell Sabo is smiling way too much again. Since that day, they have a unspoken and mutual agreement that they are, in fact, brothers.

The second thing Ace noticed is something entirely different: Sabo is way more openly emotional than whatever he's used to. This isn't about just showing when he's sad, though, it's also about him not being able to hide whenever he felt too excited or worried as well. That's probably why he's the best, between both of them, to understand what other's feelings without talking about it. Sometimes, Ace thinks their third soulmate also influences his mood, but it's not something he put too much thought into, simply to avoid causing any more worried thoughts on his head.

Ace also noticed that there are days in which he doesn't feel weird, and still, Sabo walked to bedroom and lied down on his bed — asking about the supposedly third triangle.

Today he doesn't have to say anything for Ace to put his phone down and look at where his brother is, asking what he's thinking about this time. Sabo starts talking immediately. “Just… we should've met already, right? I'm just scared something might had happened and-”

“Dude, relax.” Ace cuts him off when noticed his worried gaze on his own arm. He sits down, looking into his eyes now. “There's something about the mark fading if anything happens, so stop thinking about it. They are fine.”

Sabo's face twitched. He's smirking now and leaning his head on his brother's direction. “I thought you ‘didn't know shit’ about soulmates.” He said, using Ace's words against him.

Ace takes a deep breath, rolling his eyes and kicking his legs out of the bed. “It's Marco's fault, now let's go.” Sabo watches him walking to the door from his place in the bed and wait until he looks back. “What? Don't tell me you aren't hungry.”

It doesn't take too long for Sabo to accept his brother's offer. It's a saturday afternoon and they decided to go eat something in that one restaurant closer to their new building. Ace started talking about how good it's, Marco paid for his whole dinner once and he came home stuffed.

Sabo just thinks the name looks kinda cute, he's repeating it on his head; All blue — that's why he's surprised when they finally get a sight the restaurant and it's white. He wants to comment something about how disappointed he's by it already but he doesn't have enough time since they hear few screams coming out of the place.

Suddenly two guys are running out of the restaurant with two bags of meat on their hands and walking past them. They are frozen for a second and, without then knowing, one of the guys who walked past them stops running and look behind.

“What the fuck are you doing?” The one with green hair screams back, Sabo and Ace are compelled to look behind and see what's happening — and then, they are facing the smaller guy again. “Luffy, he's going to kill us. Let's go.”

“Who are you?” The stranger with the bag asks, walking towards both of them. Sabo and Ace don't know how to answer that though.

“Have we met before?” Sabo asks, smiling awkwardly.

“I don't think so.” Ace takes a step forward, little protective over Sabo who seemed too friendly with someone they just saw stealing from the restaurant.

“Yeah, but…” The smaller one is tapping his bare foot on the pavement and groaning, like he's trying to think too hard. “Ugh, I don't know. Are you sure we haven't-”

The next thing that left his mouth is a curse when a blond man walks out of the restaurant, screaming two names and running in their direction.

“Let's go, now.” The green haired man grabs the other one by his arm and then look back at both of them. “They can come if you want, but I'm not in the mood to deal with the shitty cook.”

The teenager looks at both of them, expecting their reaction. Sabo looks at Ace and the older one is quickly to shake his head. “Ace, come on, man!” Sabo groans, turning his attention entirely to his brother while staring into his eyes. “If you're not going, I will.”

Well, that sure makes things easier for Ace to decide because there's no way he's going to let his brother go alone. He's still hesitate to accept it but, for some reason, he trust Sabo's instincts too much — and there's this look on his eyes he saw on the first day they met.

“Whatever.” Ace sighs, staring at his brother one last time when they start running with the two strangers. “If two triangles disappear from our future sibling's arm, I'll blame it on you.” He commented about their third soulmate, already thinking about the worst case scenario, which makes Sabo laugh.

“I don't know, I have the feeling we are doing the right thing.”

His tone suggests something else, which makes Ace look at him — not really surprised, but smiling. “Oh man, I hope you're wrong.”

Much to Ace's dismay, Sabo's instincts are never wrong. When all of them finally sit down and talk, the green haired guy take a look at both stranger's arms but doesn't mention anything about it until they talk. When they do talk, it's actually stranger than Ace and Sabo's first interaction.

“So you're telling me you both just stole food from your friend?” Ace asks, finally sitting down next to Sabo and in front of the two strangers.

“Yes.” They both answer.

“Okay, less bad. Still weird, though.” Ace says the last sentence to Sabo before staring at the boy who introduced himself as Luffy, and then looking back at his brother when asking: “So we are doing it?”

Sabo is the first one to stretch out his arm, Ace followed his actions but Luffy still staring at both of them, confused. He doesn't really understand at first, it takes his friend to slap his head and explain to him what's happening.

Ace thought his first brother seemed excited when they both met, but the way Luffy reacted was even more extra. The teenager suddenly ran toward both of them and jump in their direction, making all three fall backwards on the floor.

Luffy's arms around their neck is firm, like he doesn't plan in letting go anytime soon. His head between both of them makes the mix of laughter and sobbing coming from him even more clear for them to hear, sending warm feeling in both of their hearts. Sabo's left arm go to rest on Luffy's back while Ace ruffles his hair.

Ace thinks all of their reactions are too much, but then, his heart is beating like it never did before and maybe, just maybe, he admits his brothers aren't too extra. That one feeling he had when he met Sabo for the first time suddenly is here again, but even stronger because he feels completed now. Something like; he really doesn't need anything else in his life, his whole world was right there for this reason he wouldn't mind staying like this forever.

It's a really strange feeling, he somewhat expected that after meeting Sabo. What he didn't expect is the tears that started coming out of his eyes — the freckled man quickly let go of his firm hold around Luffy to cover his own face, embarrased by this suddenly reaction. Sabo is laughing for a few seconds until he realizes that he's crying as well and that the three of them are a mess. Instead of letting go, he grabs Luffy more firmly and hides his face on his younger brother's shoulders. They really are a mess and none of them stop to think why they are even crying. Zoro probably thinks they are crazy, Sabo thinks when Luffy finally let go of them and gives him enough time to look around, all three recovering themselves until he speaks again.

“You guys are funny.” Luffy smiles at them and repeats one more time, trying to convince himself. “My brothers are funny.” His voice is quiet now but still makes Ace and Sabo shoot surprised expressions at each other because of Luffy's choice of words. The younger brother doesn't really noticed that, way too caught up on the moment. Instead of talking to them again, he looks back at his friend to make sure this is really happening before smiling wider. “I'm happy.” He says, simply like that, making the green haired guy scoff. Zoro roll his eyes, smiling slightly, and decides to exit the room to give them privacy.

Ace decided to ignore the overwhelming emotions he felt on his chest before anything could happen again and sat down, in front of Luffy. He then wraps his arms around the poor boy's neck, ruffling his hair non stop. “So tell me, you little troublemaker. Is this something you usually do.”

Luffy can't stop laughing until he finally stops and let him talk. He paused, thought about it for a while and shrugged. “Not really, Sanji let us eat for free, you know? We just don't like the place I guess, people look at us weirdly.”

Sabo scrunched his nose. “Where do you live, Luffy?” He asks, Ace can tell his brother sounds worried.

“My friend's house.” He's smiling again.

Ace eyes finally met Sabo's — who smiled apologetically at him. At this point, he's pretty sure he can't do anything about whatever idea was cooking on the blond's head, so he just gestures for Sabo to go ahead and make the offer he was thinking about.

* * *

It takes a while for things to calm down after all of them are living together in one apartment. Ace doesn't mind sharing his bedroom with Luffy, since he had the bigger one. Funny enough, he also doesn't mind it when the he rolls to his side of the bed in the middle of the night, either. Actually, it feels weird when the new bed finally arrived, although Ace would never admit missing the snoring on his ears.

Luffy is just a lot different from both of them. As many similarities they might have, Luffy was just all over the place — although, if they were asked about it, none of them found it a bad thing.

Ace never expected to be the mature one between all three of them, in fact, he wasn't ready at all. There was one more unspoken agreement bewteen him and Sabo; something like none of then having to worry about who's in that position of taking care — more like just both of them are in charge of taking care of Luffy. However, for some reason, Ace just always had this personality which just made him a lot more protective over both of his brothers, at least more than he expected.

None of them talk about it when Ace tries to play this role by cooking for them after working all day or being the one that does most of the housework. Actually, Sabo and Luffy, actually always admired Ace's behavior whenever they needed him — even though the same thing happened when he needed them.

It's kind of funny, Ace thinks. It's funny how relieved he feels whenever he's doing almost all the work at home, despite working all day already. It's one of his favorite things; going home after such a tiring day and discussing with Sabo who's making dinner while Luffy just laughs at both of them. Ace also thinks it's unfair that Luffy always pick his brother's side — but it's understandable since his own cooking menu isn't diverse at all.

When things finally calm down, they start to live bit more comfortably — well, as comfortably as someone with Luffy as a roommate could be. They aren't together every single hour of their days, mostly at night and on weekends. Ace works during the whole day, Sabo has morning classes and then works at the library on the afternoon, to help him keep his scholarship, and Luffy is just not home at all after his classes — which he probably doesn't even attend to most days.

They all keep their minds occupied all day but there are few nights, though, when Ace extremely tired and he just wants to rest and forget about his responsibilities for a bit. The first time that happens, after Luffy moved in with them, everything else seemed a bit more enjoyable.

He was lying on the floor with his back up where Luffy decided to rest his own head and take a nap. Sabo is sitting with his back on the couch while Luffy's legs were dropped on top of his own. Even though Ace is watching television, Sabo doesn't complain about the noise while he finish reading his book.

None of them are saying anything, each one involved in their own thing when Ace start feeling his back hurt. He's carefully turning around to rest his back on the floor, holding Luffy's head so he wouldn't wake up until he realized it doesn't matter how much he moves — he's probably not going to wake up that easily.

Sabo pull a pillow from the couch and throws into his brother's direction, without taking his eyes off the book — at this point, Ace actually starts thinking he can read their minds, because it doesn't make sense how someone's instinct can be this good. He decides to ignore this thought tonight, placing the pillow above his head and trying to close his eyes and rest for a second.

His hands unconsciously follow the weight on his stomach as he started caressing his little brother's hair. The peace he feels in the room's atmosphere right now is like no other he had ever experienced in his whole life.

It's ironic, he thinks. How he always wished to have people looking out for him but always thought he never deserved it. Now, his reality is living with two guys that seemed more like two long lost brothers than just strangers — and maybe that's exactly what they are.

Ace still doesn't understand that much about the whole soulmate thing, he still believes he doesn't deserve everything fate has given him. However, there are some nights — like this one — when he just let himself be a little selfish. Selfish enough to accept his brothers' most genuine and purest form of love for him.

He open his eyes for a second, staring at Luffy sleeping peacefully before a smile started creeping up on his face. When his eyes follow to his side to look at Sabo, their eyes met and he notice a hint of amusement on his brother's gaze. He's smirking at him before cocking his head. “Don't you start getting all soft again, I never know how to react when you're the one crying.” He warns, teasingly.

“Shut up.” Ace scoffed, rolling his eyes before closing again, his hand still on Luffy's hair.

Despite letting himself feel selfish from time to time, it's still hard to accept it completely. Still, Ace just feels likes the most selfish man ever whenever he realized that, what he had right now, is away better than whatever he ever expected.

His thoughts are distracted when he hears Sabo moving around, and then, a pillow hitting his face again. When he open his eyes, Sabo's expression changed and he looked mad at him now. “Stop.” He says, way too seriously when he put his book down. “Stop overthinking. We love you, that's it.”

Ace thinks it's ridiculous how he still gets surprised every time Sabo does that — read his just as easily as he was doing with that book right now. But it's just how it's and when he stops to think about what his brother just said, maybe those three words are what caught him off guard the most. It was always there, the whole feeling and now that he heard it, it feels even more real.

Suddenly, the weight on his stomach isn't there anymore and he realizes Sabo just took Luffy in his arms — probably taking him to bed, still sleeping. His brother is too stubborn, so he doesn't let Ace say anything before he continued talking. “Fate exists as a certainty of what is better for us, but it's our choice to accept it.” He fix Luffy's sleeping figure in his arms and stares at Ace one more time. “And we did it.”

Their little brother starts moving and Sabo quickly puts him down. Luffy realize both are looking at him and, somehow, it feels like he did something wrong. He couldn't care less about his own actions, but when his brothers looks at him like that, it just means something else. “Are you two fighting?” He asks, not really hesitantly, but confused.

Ace chuckles, still sitting on the floor when he saw Sabo nodding. “Something like that.” He answers.

“Okay. Are you done?”

Sabo looks at Ace, almost like he's waiting for him to anwer again, so he does. “Yeah.”

“Okay, good.” Luffy starts smiling again and then he sits down on the couch. He's looking at both of them when Sabo notices he's waiting for their company.

He gives Ace a soft kick and they both join Luffy on the couch, he seemed bit too excited for someone who just wanted to watch a movie.

When they are settled down, Ace finally lets himself think about their conversation again — and he hates to admit that Sabo is right. However, he really can't thank them enough for choosing to live this fate that was given to them. To be honest, Ace wouldn't ever call it fate. But now, he truly does understands that: no matter where he lived, they would find each other and he would receive this chance of being loved by them because he's that damn privileged.

Suddenly, he's overthinking again but in a good way. He wonders if everything would be different if they met when he was younger, way too naive of this world. He wonders if he would met Luffy first if that was the case, if they would get along quickly or not. Maybe, if he met them earlier, he would be able to understand and help Sabo when he ran away from home.

And then, he doesn't want to think about it anymore.

He doesn't want to think about other alternatives to his life because what he had right now really seemed like what it was the best for him. Ace didn't want to consider not being how they are right now, even if that meant they could spend more time together because, maybe, they didn't even need to. They didn't need to live together, under the same rooftop, forever. Ace is sure he would love and protect his brothers from anything no matter where they were.

And now, this moment made him realize how he never thought he would feel so happy in where he was now and by just being alive. They taught him, they changed him for better in so many aspects and, even if he was still Ace — with that much of a burden on his shoulders — they loved him, they truly did. With their entire heart, just like he did. And Ace knows, God, he knows damn well; that's way more than he could ever ask.

When he looks to his side, above Luffy's head on his shoulders, he can see Sabo smiling, knowingly without even looking at him. Then words come out of his mouth before he could stop himself. “Thanks” He whispers and doesn't add anything else.

Sabo doesn't answer, he does chuckled though. Ace can listen to it and he realizes he doesn't have to add anything else at all, because Sabo knows exactly what he meant. At the same time, Luffy clings just a little closer to his side as if he knew he needed that. At this point, Ace is sure he's the only one that can't sense shit.

But it's fine, he thinks. Whatever he can or cannot feel, it won't change how much he loved both of them, and he hoped it was the same way around.

Actually, no. Now he knew, for sure, that it was the same way around. 


End file.
